Asphalt surfaces are widely used in the construction of highways and parking areas where large areas need to be covered with a relatively hard, flat, weather-resistant surface suitable for vehicular travel. With prolonged usage such surfaces generally develop soft spots and various irregularities that necessitate reconditioning of the surface. In the past it has been common practice to recondition a worn asphaltic surface by hot application of a new mat of asphaltic material over the existing surface to form a new flat surface. A more recent practice is to recondition old asphaltic surfaces by breaking up the existing asphalt aggregate material, picking up the material for reconditioning and heating, and then reapplying the heated reconditioned material as a new mat.
For breaking up an existing pavement the pavement is generally heated and then scarified to a certain depth by a scarifying tool having a plurality of vertical spikes that are forced into and pulled through the existing surface. A problem with such scarifying tools is that the pavement is broken up into large irregular chunks that are difficult to handle. In addition it is sometimes difficult to control the cutting depth and the direction of movement of the scarifying tool across the pavement and to angulate the tool to match the contour of a pavement that slopes downward from its centerline for drainage. Also it is difficult for a scarifying tool to dislodge all of the pavement adjacent to a concrete curb or gutter, especially where numerous asphalt overlays have elevated the asphaltic surface above the level of the gutter. In the past it has been common practice to remove the material along a curb or gutter manually with hand tools.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide simple, durable and efficient apparatus for dislodging and breaking up old asphaltic surfaces and for windrowing the broken material for easy removal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus effective for cutting cutting away asphaltic material from a curb or gutter.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for use in combination with a scarifying tool for further dislodging and windrowing scarified pavement for easy removal of the material.
A further object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for cutting up existing asphaltic pavement that is highly versatile so as to be adjustable to control the depth, lateral slope, and horizontal location of the cutters and the angle of the cutters relative to the direction of apparatus movement.